gumi Inc. Partners with Nordisk Film to Launch Nordic VR Startups Organization
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Nordic-based VR developers will have access to investment, incubation, mentorship and peer community resources through new program in Helsinki

HELSINKI and TOKYO – March 30, 2017 -- Today gumi Inc. and Nordisk Film announced the launch of Nordic VR Startups (NVS), an incubation program focused on the virtual reality (VR) market. In this program, startup companies based in the Nordic region will be invited to develop prototypes of VR products and services for potential future global deployment. Participants will be supported with dedicated seed funding up to 100,000€, workspaces, and back-office services. Additionally, throughout the program, NVS mentors from gumi and Nordisk Film will work together to support the participants with expert guidance, development and business support.

Hironao Kunimitsu, CEO of gumi Inc., said: “The Nordic region brings tremendous creative and engineering talent to the gaming and film industries, and we’re focused on enabling this pool of talent to grow in the VR market with our available resources and expertise. We’ve already experienced great success with our Tokyo VR Startups program in the East, and by working with the accomplished Nordisk Film group, we’ll be able to expand our program further into Europe.”

Suman Rath, Senior Vice President of Nordisk Film, said: “By bringing together our strong Nordic entertainment expertise and gumi’s experience in successfully operating VR accelerators, we hope to take aspiring Nordic VR companies to the next level. Our partnership will offer the rising startups in this field a robust set of resources. We believe that Nordic VR Startups can help develop the Nordic VR ecosystem and propel the local VR industry in the coming years.”

In addition to program support from gumi and Nordisk Film, incubated startups in Finland are eligible for R&D funding from official supporting partner Tekes, the Finnish funding agency for innovation. Startups can also participate in the events and community provided by FIVR, the non-profit Finnish Virtual Reality Association (https://fivr.fi/), which is dedicated to advancing VR and augmented reality (AR) markets in Finland.